INDIANAPOLIS – Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins called it tampering. Michigan coach John Beilein called it a unique set of circumstances.

They were talking about the scenario of June 2010, when LaVall Jordan accepted a job of assistant basketball coach at Western Michigan and instead ended up at Michigan.

Hawkins was irate at the time, telling the Kalamazoo Gazette:

“I don’t think there was a miscommunication, and I think all parties involved on both staffs know exactly what happened.”

Wounds have apparently healed. Jordan, who was introduced Wednesday as Butler’s head coach, said Hawkins was “extremely gracious” to allow him to speak to Michigan during that process.

“He’s a friend. We actually talked a week or two ago,” Jordan said.

According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, Jordan had been introduced to Western Michigan players and had a nameplate on his office. All that was necessary was completion of a background check and Jordan’s signature on a contract, something standard in such cases.

When Michigan assistant Mike Jackson left for Purdue, there was an opening. So Beilein contacted Jordan, a native of Albion, Mich., who had lost his job on Iowa’s staff when Todd Lickliter was fired. Jordan had been a finalist for a Michigan opening two months before.

“He had not signed a contract. So I left it up to him,” Beilein said this week. “Very difficult decision for him to make. But he made it, and the rest is history.”

At the time, Hawkins said what happened was legal but unethical. He said he didn’t blame Jordan because his salary at Michigan was $50,000 more than what it would have been at Western Michigan.

For a while, it appeared Jordan had taken a bad risk. Beilein was coming off a 15-17 season, his fourth at Michigan, and started 2010-11 with a 1-6 record in the Big Ten. The Wolverines eventually made the NCAA tournament and beat Tennessee 75-45 in the first round.